7 Blackmail and Extortion Stories to Watch Next if You Loved ‘Hostage’ on Netflix
Movies and TV shows with a similar vibe to ‘Hostage’ on Netflix.
A gripping political thriller is the #1 series on Netflix. Hostage follows the UK prime minister and the French president as terrorists use kidnapping and blackmail to push their agenda. If you loved Hostage and are hungry for stories with a similar vibe, here are some more blackmail and extortion movies and television episodes to queue up:
Black Mirror: “The National Anthem”
The very first episode of Black Mirror features the UK prime minister forced to make an impossible choice. A popular member of the royal family is kidnapped and the random demands she will only be released alive if the prime minister has sexual intercourse with a pig on live TV. In this story, the kidnapper’s demands are made public and the whole country obsesses over what the prime minister should do. It’s quite a daring plot for a pilot episode, and it definitely shows why Black Mirror became so successful.
Black Mirror: “Shut Up and Dance”
Another episode of Black Mirror that will feel similar to Netflix’s Hostage is “Shut Up and Dance”. It follows Kenny (Alex Lawther), a teen boy who is extorted by hackers and forced to complete some extreme tasks. This is a suspenseful episode with a brutal twist and regularly tops lists of the best episodes of Black Mirror.
The Player (1992)
In this acerbic Robert Altman satire about the machinations behind Hollywood filmmaking, Griffin Mill (Tim Robbins) is a studio executive who handles literally thousands of film pitches a year but is only permitted to green-light about a dozen of them. One day he starts receiving threatening post cards that he assumes were sent by someone whose film idea he rejected. He believes he knows who’s sending them and confronts the man at a local film screening. Their argument spills out into the parking lot, where Griffin accidentally kills the man during a fistfight. But the threatening post cards continue, and the stalker is aware that Griffin killed the wrong man.
Phone Booth (2002)
A psychological thriller that stars Colin Farrell as Stuart, a publicist trapped in a Times Square phone booth by an unseen sniper. Stuart has to obey the demands of the sniper on the phone or be shot.
Saw (2004)
If you want to see people forced to make impossible choices, I have the perfect horror movie franchise for you. In Saw, the Jigsaw Killer captures people and forces them to prove they want to live by completing a gruesome “test” like sawing off their foot to free themselves. There are now 10 Saw movies in total.
Red Eye (2005)
Wes Craven directed this psychological thriller about Lisa (Rachel McAdams), a hotel manager who is stealthily accosted by a terrorist, Jackson (Cillian Murphy), on a flight. Jackson coerces Lisa to use her authority to switch a politician from one room to another at her hotel in order to carry out an assassination plot. Most of the film takes place on a plane where Lisa gets creative in her attempts to elicit help from others who are unaware she is in danger.
30 Minutes or Less (2011)
An action comedy that unbelievably happened in real life. Jesse Eisenberg plays a pizza delivery man who is strapped to a bomb and forced to rob a bank in exchange for removing it. This is a much more light-hearted take on extortion.
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